We sharing this on behalf of Billie Mojonnier who is the committee chair of Troop 225 and was involved in the accident that happened earlier this week up north in Shawano County

“On July 23, approximately 9:55 am, local Boy Scout Troop 225 was involved in a serious accident on Highway 29 in Shawano County. Four adults and fifteen scouts were returning home from summer camp at Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan in three SUV’s when the accident occured. Three adults and twelve of the scouts were involved. It appears as though the driver of the first SUV, which was pulling a trailer, swerved lost control of the vehicle. The second SUV struck the trailer causing both to leave the road. The First SUV rolled several times before coming to a stop with the second SUV landing partially on top of the first. The third SUV was not involved in the accident. Eight members of the Troop, including 3 adults and 5 youth were transported to area hospitals for evaluation and treatment of minor injuries. One of the youth was flown flight for life to a neighboring hospital to be evaluated. All eight scouts were released from the hospital that evening and were able to make it home to Racine safely.

The real story though, is how that small community in Bonduel came together to help. Brian Cairns, an EMT/Firefighter who responded to the call and his wife Kris were invaluable. Brian stayed with our injured kids until adults started to arrive so that they weren’t alone. He made sure the adult leaders were informed on everyone’s conditions and treatment plans. They arranged for the uninjured scouts to be taken to the local Kwik Trip store, where Kris met them and stayed with them until we were all released from the hospital. Troop 24 from Bonduel with assistant scoutmaster, Chris, and scouts from the troop also responded to scene to help. They later stayed with our uninjured scouts at Kwik Trip and helped gather all of our gear from the side of the road, out of the vehicles and out the trailer. Kwik Trip opened their doors to us and treated us like family. They provided shelter, food and beverages for our scouts and volunteers during our 10 hour detour, and wouldn’t let us pay for anything. When I was released from the hospital and joined the scouts at Kwik Trip they brought me a chair to sit in, one to put my feet up on and even a bag of ice to put on my injury. Police Chief, Todd Chaney, was amazing. He stayed with our volunteers the whole time and helped coordinate collecting our gear. South shore Heating and Cooling, out of Fransville Wi, provided a trailer so that the equipment could be transported home. I can’t say enough about how that community came together to help reduce the stress and trauma of a very traumatic day.

Our scouting family has also played a very important role. Once Brittany Burmeister, Three Harbor Council, Lighthouse district executive, became aware of the accident, shortly after it happened. She rallied the troops and Steve Lirely and Katherine Helmle Clark, Executives from Three Harbors Council made the drive up to see how they could help. They were able to offer advice, and talk with our uninjured scouts about the trauma they had both been apart of and witnessed as well as ensure their safety until we were released from the hospital. Jason Wolf, Baylakes council Scout executive and his wife also checked in on us at Kwik Trip, to see what they could do. Pack/Troop 241, led by Melissa Schroeder, volunteered to make the trip up to Bonduel to get gear that was left behind.

Since news of the accident has gotten out Troops around Wisconsin have been reaching out to us to see how they can help. All of our equipment was on the trailer that was destroyed during the accident and most of it will need to be replaced. We are asking for anyone who wishes to help support our Troop to send Monetary donations to: Troop 225 C/O United Methodist Christ Church 5109 Washington Ave Racine, WI 53406 Or contact us at 225committeechair@gmail.com and we can send you an invoice via Square up for your requested donation amount for a safe secure credit card donation. An amazon “wish list” was also developed for those wishing to gift supplies. That list can be found at http://tinyurl.com/Troop225 . “